I haven't gone to a concert in a while now (a while for me really isn't that long, I go to concerts a lot). Last I saw I was Amanda Palmer at San Diego Comic-Con, which was fucking fantastic. Last before that was Fleetwood Mac, and Motley Crue before that, so it was really nice having a change from a huge stadium concert to a smaller, more personal venue. I love both, though, very different feels. The smaller venues, on one hand, can feel so much more connected, but I feel like at times if you've just gotten into that musician's work, you can also feel outside of the loop as all the other fans are connecting. The huge venues don't always have that community feeling, but because of that it's easier to go and just have your own little experience. I am a tad sad though at not having seen a live symphony for a couple years now. I used to always see a few of those per year.

Saw Charlie Looker's band Extra Life last night at 21 Grand in Oakland, CA, USA. Totally amazing if you are into the further end of the art rock spectrum. The funkily dressed and straggly bearded hipsters were so thick I could scarcely contain my un-coolness.

Saw Amanda Palmer Friday night (on a side note: saw Neil Gaiman speak early evening yesterday. He was, coincidentally, really interesting) and Converge last night. Amanda Palmer was good. Quite witty stage banter, but you pretty much got the feeling that all she really wanted to do was smooch with Gaiman. Converge were also good. Pretty interesting up on stage: lots of movement, encourage a lot of audience participation (stage was only waist high or so and it was a fairly small club) and still spout some of the same old hardcore cliches. Pretty sweet gig. Crowd was very much a hardcore crowd (as opposed to metal), which was a little disappointing to me, as I prefer metal crowds here in NZ: there's more physicality but less flailing about which means there's less chance of an eye being poked or elbowed or being kicked in the head (heaps of crowd surfing and stage diving last night). I discovered, however, that the vast majority of my friends into metal had no idea who Converge is, which really surprised me, and was also a bit of a bummer as I had a spare ticket I was trying to give away, at short notice admittedly, and nobody would take it. Been a great weekend though.

Went to see Astronautalis/Dessa/P.O.S last Wednesday night, with surprise opener F.Stokes. Hip-hop for the indie/alternative crowd (not to mention some of the best rap/hip-hop material being recorded these days), with F.Stokes being more on the traditional side of the genre, and Astronatalis being on the more indie/experimental side. Dessa and P.O.S. are somewhere in the middle, hailing from Minnesota's highly innovative Doomtree rap collective. It's worth noting that their DJ, Plain Ol' BIll, was absolutely killing it all night. Dude can scratch like nobody's business.

I almost didn't go, because I hate going to shows alone, but fortunately a buddy of mine decided to come with me. The show was incredible, and I'm planning on seeing P.O.S. again next month when he hits the East Coast opening for Brand New.

saw NOBUNNY last night and dont get the hype.i had heard a lot about how 'totally crazy' their shows get. meh. also saw SO COW from ireland. not really my thing but the noisy 90s type thing was done well for the style. i think its hilarious that an actual punk band from ireland was here but everyone was at crappy 'pubs' celebrating st patricks early

Saw the P.O.S./Everybody Else gig. Fucking kids don't know to catch stagedivers. Aside from that, it was a wonderful performance. I forgot the feeling of absolutely destroying my voice singing along, and P.O.S. had me going from the first track. Obviously, Purexed was the closer and it was huuuuuuuuuuuuge.

Apparently, dudes were ON for this show, so we got a random old song as the fake closer and then Purexed as the final song. He also did Handmade Handgun (hidden track on Never Better) with Astro, which was, to use the hip-hop parlance, so fucking dope.

Also, the artists were shocked that so many people attended. Well, that's what good support tours plus a breakout record will do...

Black Dahlia Murder at The Troc in Philly last night. Amazing show, they played for an hour and closed with "I Will Return", my favorite track off the new album. Also, because I have no shame that's me in the ape costume. I couldn't see a damn thing.

I should be going to see Brand New right now, but alas, me and my friend played "no you buy the tickets" "no u" for way too long and all the floor tickets sold out. On reflection, I probably should have just gone for the seated tickets, even if they were in row U. :(

I saw Blood Red Shoes a couple weeks ago, courtesy of my boss (I work for the music publishers they're signed to). Blew me away that a two-piece band could make that much fucking sound. Great show. If they play near you, go check em out.